End of Time

Standing on the sand, fresh, a new beginning, knowing that no matter what trespasses on the day, it will be different tomorrow. Wiped clean by the tide of a new day, the imprints of a previous time, only a memory of those who left them. We stand watching as the ocean has ceased to roll as it once did. It no longer brings in the hope and promise it once did, now, it brings only questions, when answers are what we crave, need.

I marvel at the lavender colored sky. The future not bright enough to burn off the disappointment that has descended like a dull mist, and has enveloped me in a cocoon of disenfranchisement that leaves me impotent when it comes to the need for change.

The writing is on the wall, the clock ticks, and the arguments as to authenticity rise into the clouds, as if God will appear once again, and with a profound presence create a new set of tablets to be used in our debate with the earth.

I refer to it as a debate, because that is what it has become. We, an arrogant nation, people, world, have condoned the disrespect that has awakened a sleeping giant who will demand retribution, and what do we do to appease it?

The disillusionment of a world faced with the monumental task of survival is daunting. It is no longer enough to depend upon science, ingenuity, idealism, creativity, to pull us through a decade or two of change, the buggy whip, and the automobile. That was simply an evolution of change, from one aspect of life to another. What we face today, I should say the children of today face tomorrow, is the callous disregard for the future we have endorsed by our lack of involvement, our ability to see, to act.

We are not facing a problem that will correct itself because it has to. It is not associated with the life cycles we labor under, or the ramifications of doing nothing, but we continue argue over the validity of what we see, because it is inconvenient for us to believe. 

We live in an environment that we know to today, but forgetting it took millions of years to reach this point. In the span of a couple of hundred years we have managed, as a species, to reverse the evolutionary preponderance of change by inserting an element until now unrecognized, complacency. We have forgotten to watch and listen to the world around us, learn from it. We have invested in attempting to teach the world new tricks, and hoping it won’t notice or object. The stakes of that bet are high, and we are losing, if we have not already lost. 

The straw that broke the camel’s back, is an apt metaphor when attempting to pin the proverbial tail on our newly recognized donkey, our environment. We see daily the changes and have for fifty years disregarded the cues for change, as they were subtle at first, an excusable oversight on our part. The cues are no longer subtle, and the effects are becoming more pronounced and we globally continue to talk about doing something as soon as we can find the time or money to begin.

I fear we have run out of time to procrastinate, as to the future of all life. Replacing the buggy whip although monumental in societal change, consumed only a decade of our time, but led to the psychological mindset that progress, was the panacea to the worlds ills, not the germ of its extinction. That single germ has multiplied exponentially, and is now running unleashed throughout the societies of the world.

I can stand on the desert floor in New Mexico, California, Utah, anywhere in the west and know that what is now desert was once the seas bottom. The algae that bloomed in the upheaval of change, now powers our demise. Power plants, automobiles, industry, all the recipients of the benefits of one form of life dying and leaving us to inherit the unforeseen consequences of doing so.

I found a fossilized sharks tooth in a rock that now overlooks a valley of invasive species, the result of overgrazing and the loss of natural grasses and plants. The beaches of Florida inundated by a rebirth of algae, a red tide that threatens sea life as it enhances man’s ability to perform miracles; walking on water comes to mind.

For decades, if not millennium, we have watched the buffalo slaughtered for their hides, the mountains destroyed for their wealth, water is now capable of catching fire, simply because we have allowed it to become infected with our insatiable need for more.

I attempt to look out onto the sea and envision a future, but see nothing. Only fright appears like a Loch Ness monster from its depths, and threatens to devour me. I watch as Titanic after Titanic, merrily rushes past, and then disappears as the violins of history play on the mountaintops, now ablaze with insurrection.

The reverse migration has begun. Where once native tribes fled the drought and unfettered heat, our modern effort to find comfort from the diverse climate of the north, has begun to retrace its ancient steps.

Where once there were millions, there are now billions, and we continue to increase. The straw and the camel once again plod across the desert devoid of water, but with a renewed anticipation of things to come.

I do not know as I look out at the sea, what will come. I know what has passed, and likely to return. I can only wonder where that will leave the billions of people who scramble for a dry place to sleep, food to eat, and a planet to be grateful to. 

I do not look forward to the return of the buggy whip, or the emancipation of the Titanic, but I know that, as we continue to pretend progress is the answer, beaches move inland, mountains burn, water becomes both a blessing and a curse; we are running out of time. When I look at the waves washing onto the shore erasing all evidence of yesterday, I can’t help but wonder if we will belong to a yesterday, or a tomorrow.